Malcolm Simmons

Malcolm Simmons
Born (1946-03-20)20 March 1946
Tonbridge, England
Died 25 May 2014(2014-05-25) (aged 68)
Nickname Simmo
Nationality  United Kingdom
Current club information
Career status Retired
Career history
1963 Hackney Hawks
1964-1967 West Ham Hammers
1968-1974, 1993 King's Lynn Stars
1975-1980 Poole Pirates
1981-1984 Wimbledon Dons
1985 Swindon Robins
1986-1987 Hackney Kestrels
1989 Arena Essex Hammers
Individual honours
1976 British Champion
1974 Spring Classic
1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 Blue Riband
1976 Internationale
1976 Littlechild Trophy
1977 Superama
1977 Skol Southern Masters
1982 The Laurels
Team honours
1973, 1974, 1975, 1977 World Team Cup Winner
1976, 1977, 1978 World Pairs Champion
1965 British League Champion
1965 British League KO Cup Winner
1965, 1966, 1967 London Cup
1973 Spring Gold Cup

Malcolm Simmons (20 March 1946 – 25 May 2014) was a British speedway rider.

Career

Simmons was born in Tonbridge, Kent. After starting in second-half races at New Cross, he made his Provincial League debut at Hackney Hawks in 1963 aged seventeen but was unable to break into the Hackney team regularly so moved to the newly re-opened West Ham Hammers for the 1964 season.[1] In 1965 Simmons won a British League and British League Knockout Cup double with West Ham. In 1968 he moved to the King's Lynn Stars and stayed there for the next seven seasons. He was consistently at the top of the Stars averages and scored over 2112 points for the club.[2]

Simmons signed for the Poole Pirates in 1975 from King's Lynn. In his first season for Poole in 31 league matches he achieved 16 maximum scores (15 full and 1 paid) and he became the first Poole rider to secure a 10-point average in the British League. Simmons topped the Pirates averages for the next six years and he came to be affectionately known by the Poole fans as 'Super Simmo'. In 1979 the Pirates were taken over by new owners and Simmons became unsettled, asking for a transfer in 1980. At a pairs event at Poole that year, Simmons was accused by the Poole management of not trying and he was subsequently sacked by the club.[2]

He moved to Wimbledon in 1981, where he spent four seasons and moved to the Swindon Robins for one season in 1985. Simmons signed for former club Hackey, now renamed Hackney Kestrels, in 1986 for two years before he suffered a bad shoulder injury. He then made a couple of short come-backs at Arena Essex and King's Lynn.[2]

Malcolm captained England and Great Britain at full international level. He finished runner-up to Peter Collins in the 1976 Speedway World Championship, but became World Pairs Champion with John Louis the same year. He again became World Pairs Champion in 1977 with Peter Collins, and again in 1978 with Gordon Kennett. Simmons became British Champion in 1976.[3] He won the World Team Cup on four occasions - 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1977 - once with Great Britain and three times with England.

He signed as a rider for Mildenhall in 2001 to ride occasionally in the Conference League, aged 56.

World Final Appearances

Individual World Championship

World Pairs Championship

World Team Cup

* 1973 for Great Britain. All others for England.

References

  1. ↑ Rogers, Martin (1963) "Hackney Hawks Here to Stay?", Speedway Star, 1 June 1963, p. 16
  2. 1 2 3 Bamford, Robert; Shailes, Glynn (2004). 50 Poole Pirates Greats. Tempus Publishing. pp. 108–109. ISBN 0-7524-3257-5.
  3. ↑ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5
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